Municipal ID Conference in Oakland

Dear Friend , 

Please accept my invitation and join other community members, attorneys, scholars, artists, and community organizers this Friday, February 6th and Saturday 7th for a conference/community forum focusing on the implementation of municipal id/resident cards at Laney College in Oakland.  I have helped organize this event and your participation would be greatly appreciated.  As you may have already learned, a few weeks ago San Francisco became the second but largest city to issue municipal id cards that are available to all residents regardless of immigration status. Through this conference we would like to brainstorm the possible implementation of such programs in other cities.  We have invited people from around the country and state to come learn and discuss such possibilities. 

The conference will begin on Friday afternoon, where there will be some art exhibits, videos and music and will continue on to Saturday where there will be a series of presentations and workshops around the municipal id and surrounding issues. (see agenda below for more information.

If you have any questions about the conference please feel free to contact me at 831.261.2493 or via email at danluna831@yahoo.com.  If you are interested in attending please let us know by emailing alianzalatinoamericana@gmail.com or calling 415. 269.9547   

Sincerely, 

Daniel Luna

For more information about the conference visit: http://www.alianzalatinoamericana.org/conference/index.html

Agenda

Friday, February 6, 2009

2:00 pm-6:00pm- Alternative Presentations and Performances:  Art, Culture and Social Integration

Carlos Cartagena Salvadoran Artist
Made in L.A, Hecho en Los Angeles,  A documentary film by Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar
Sobrevivir en el Imperio Documentary
Aztec Dancers. 

6:00pm- Conference Welcome

UC Davis Professor of Law Bill Hing
Miguel Robles, ALDI
Musical performance 

8:00 pm-Dinner 

Saturday,  February 7, 2009

8:00am-8:30am- Breakfast

8: 30 a.m. -9:00 a.m. – Opening Forum

Presentation and Workshops

9: 15 am – 11:10 am:    Shared Experiences—immigrant, homeless, elderly and LGBT communities   

Identity and Safety 

Facilitator: Beatriz Herrera, Community Organizer, POWER

Paule Cruz Takash, Sociocultural Anthropologist and Independent Researcher
Lisette Molina, UCLA North American Integration and Development (NAID) Center

Personal Privacy and Inclusiveness 

Facilitator: Julio Garcia, Community Organizer 

Alexandra Byerly, El-LA Program para Trans Latinas
Rene Quiñonez, Director Homies Organizing the Mission to Empower Youth (HOMEY)
Laura Guzman, Director, Mission Resource Center
John Gilmore, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Co-Founder, Board Member, entrepreneur; technologist

Economic/Social/Political Context for Federal Law Immigration Reform 

Facilitator: Ramon Cardona, Diputado Suplemente de la Asamblea Legislative de el Salvador, Director del Centro Latino Cuzcatlan in San Pablo

Ted Lewis, Director of Human Rights Program Global Exchange
David Bacon, Union organizer and Writer
Nativo Lopez, National President of MAPA and HGTUI

11:20 am-1:15 pm:       What is a Municipal ID/Resident Card?

Municipal ID and its Multiple Uses

Maria Dominguez, Oakland Community Activist

Local Economic Sustainability for Marginalized Communities

Facilitador: Miguel Robles Founder/coordinator of Alianza Latinoamericana por los Derechos de los Inmigrantes

Wilson Riles, Former Oakland City Council Member, Community Activist
Francis Calpotura, Director, Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action
Dr. Raul Hinjosa-Ojeda, Founder, SF Global 

Implementation, Key Study: San Francisco 

Facilitator, Nicole Valentino, Community Advocate, Office of the Mayor of Richmond

Sheila Chung-Hagen, Former SF Immigrant Rights Administrator 
Jeff Atkinson, Capture Technologies

1:15pm- 2:00 p.m:        Lunch 

2:00 pm- 4:00 pm:        Overcoming Barriers with Strategic Planning and Collaboration

Building Alliances between Community and Media Outlets 

Facilitator, Rosie Reyes, Independent Media Consultant

Abigail Sterling, Investigative Producer KPIX TV 5 News
Richard Gonzales, Correspondent based in San Francisco for National Public Radio
Marcos Gutierrez PhD., 1010 A.M. Radio Broadcaster

Grassroots Strategies and Breaking Political Divisions to form Cross-Alliances 

Facilitator:

Tom Wilson, Executive Director, Canal Alliance
Els de Graauw, Visiting Research Fellow, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard University
Phil Hutchings, Specialist in Nonprofit & Community Issues

The Legislative Process and Defeating Legal Challenges in Court

Facilitator: Fernando Flores, Attorney

Julia Mass, ACLU Staff Attorney
Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, Esq. Litigation Associate, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP and Public Interest Fellow, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund,
Daniel Luna, ALDI Legal Adviser

4:00pm:            Closing Discussion

Speakers: Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor of Richmond, Felipe Aguirre, Mayor of Maywood, Nativo Lopez, Wilson Riles, Miguel Robles and Attendants

Statement of Purpose   

It is with great enthusiasm that we welcome you to the Cities for All: Integrating our Communities National Conference.   We hope that you and your organizations have come prepared to participate and engage in honest and open discussions about the possible implementation of municipal identification cards in your respective cities. 

As you may be aware, federal, and most of our state’s laws, currently do not allow for the proper integration of all of our cities’ residents.  For example, federal immigration law, via its lack of just legalization programs and the 2005 REAL ID Act prevent the full integration of our immigrant communities.  Current state identification and licensing mechanisms also repeatedly fail to provide access to adequate identification cards to our homeless, transgender, youth, and elderly city residents.  This lack of integration often hinders public safety, stifles community morale, and eliminates opportunities for economic growth in our communities. Unfortunately, any national or state solutions pertaining to integration are too often manipulated by political forces outside the reach of our communities.

As a consequence of the existence and social impact of this gap, the Cities for All conference seeks to propose that the implementation of municipal identification cards is an important and necessary approach in achieving increased community integration. Ordinances establishing municipal identification programs can assist in more fully integrating our communities, and can also fuel healthy local and national discussions about the social, moral, economic, and political integration of our communities. 
Therefore, this conference has been designed:

·       To facilitate the justification of such municipal identification programs

·       To provide tools for the effective implementation of such programs

·       To prepare for obstacles in implementing such programs, and

·       To establish working relationships among community groups in the pursuit of these programs, and

·         To motivate, encourage, and entreat city residents from cities across the nation to successfully promote the integration of all city residents through these programs

The Cities for All conference seeks to bring people together from different backgrounds, who have different interests and experiences, to think creatively and work collectively to ultimately accomplish the goal of living in cities that truly serve all of its residents.

 

We hope that you will enjoy the performances, art presentations, and discussions, and that you will gain new perspectives and allies to assist you in your pursuit of more fully integrated cities and communities. 
Sincerely,

Alianza Latinoamericana por los Derechos de los Inmigrantes (aldi) and the

“Cities for All” National Conference Steering Committee

bh